CETA is a proposed trade deal between the EU and Canada. Buried in the smaller print there is the creation of a hugely problematic new court (ICS) that will override our current courts. But CETA is a lot more than a trade deal - it’s a dangerous corporate power grab that gives multinational corporations extraordinary powers to sue us for millions of euros in shady tribunals if they believe our local and national government policies have put our interests ahead of their expected profits. For example, if CETA were to be implemented and the government enacts limits on rent, as Ireland's largest private landlord (often referred to as a 'Vulture Fund') is Canadian - Ires Reit - they could sue the state to make up for any loss of profit to the Canadian company. If we bring in more climate laws or regulation to work towards addressing some of the causes of climate crisis - companies can sue is if they think the laws will affect their profits too. Governments have been sued in other countries who have introduced these new types of courts. This new court system, that supersedes and operates outside our own court system, would lead an already corporate-friendly government further down the road of putting business profits above the needs of Irish people and make secure, sustainable and affordable homes more out of reach. Once CETA is ratified, it allows investors to go straight to these special tribunals and sideline domestic courts and those of the European Union. Investor court decisions cannot be challenged by either the State or the EU - this is the equivalent of handing corporations a blank cheque! We must stand against this corporate takeover that will risk our efforts of addressing the climate and housing crises. For more info on CETA ICS, check out this fact checker: https://comhlamh.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/CETA-ICS-Fact-Checker.pdf Image source: Avaaz

The Homeless and Needy of our country are abandoned by the state. It is up to us, the general public, to look after their welfare, with food, clothing, sleeping bags, tents and very often just to lend an ear. We can not simply be ignored, just as our service users can't be abandoned either.

Residents in the Callenders Mill estate and surrounding estates do not want a shop built on the green area in front of their houses. This green is filled with children playing every day. Residents want to keep this green space as there is already a lack of green spaces for children in Celbridge. Callenders Mill is clearly a residential area. The proposed shop will be open from 7am to 10pm, which will cause serious disturbance and noise pollution for residents. There is already insufficient parking for residents in the estate. There are already a significant number of other shop in the vicinity. There are also vacant shop units within walking distance of the proposed site. We do not need or want a shop in Callenders Mill, Celbridge!

72 precious lives were lost in the fire at Grenfell Tower in London in 2017. Combustible materials contributed to the fire that night. But Kingspan, the Irish company who manufactured some of the Grenfell cladding, is trying to prevent the same dangerous materials being banned in Northern Ireland, like it has been in England and Wales. Public safety must come before big business

Thousands of houses throughout Ireland, particularly in the Northwest, are falling apart because they were built with DEFECTIVE Blocks. The blocks are contaminated by compounds called PYRITE and/or MICA. People’s homes and lives are being totally destroyed - lives are being shattered - children’s futures devastated. Our houses are now worthless and are unsafe to live in. Imagine if you discovered today that your home was worthless, unsaleable, cracking and crumbling, and would ultimately collapse. How would you feel? This is what is happening to us, through absolutely no fault of our own. Our houses were built with blocks governed by the Standards set by the Irish Government. The Irish Government allowed the quarries that made the blocks to self-regulate. Both the Irish Government, and the quarries have FAILED innocent homeowners. In 2007 when pyrite contaminated houses on the EAST coast of Ireland the Irish Government introduced a redress scheme. This scheme covered 100% of costs for homeowners allowing them to rectify their homes. The Irish Government is REFUSING to grant citizens on the WEST coast of Ireland the same 100% redress scheme. They are offering a PARTIAL redress scheme which has so many exclusions, conditions and hidden costs that it is NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE. €7,000 is needed for testing before accessing the scheme. This make it financially inaccessible for majority of homeowners affected. We NEED a 100% redress scheme to deal with this life-destroying problem. We are your fellow citizens and we ask you to STAND WITH US in our fight for JUSTICE. Please, please sign this petition to support our cause. Help us get our homes back.

Our government opts to ensure that the basic human right to housing does not become a fundamental right in our constitution. Given that one in three TD's in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are landlords they will just deliver further homelessness, evictions, housing lists, spiralling rents and house prices. Government has outsourced housing to private developers, who are only after high prices and profits. We need to invest in building high quality ‘green’ public housing on public land to solve the crisis. Soaring rents and lack of security leave tenants exposed to eviction and homelessness. It could happen to anyone. We have some of the highest rents in the EU but have less protection. While vulture fund investors are left unchallenged and get huge tax breaks. Our housing crisis continues to get worse with 50 people having died in homelessness so far this year. If we look at Finland's "Housing First" strategy, we can see that the level of homelessness has fallen sharply and an alternative is possible. The People Before Profit Right to Housing Bill to help combat this has been resubmitted and will be voted on soon. The Bill was defeated in the last Dáil in 2017 but Richard Boyd Barrett TD resubmitted it to the Bills Lottery last autumn and is hopeful that, considering the Programme for Government gives a commitment to a referendum on housing, that this bill will garner more support this time. Please contact your local TD's and request that they support this bill. Be very aware of who voted for and who voted against. Those that vote it down clearly don't care about everyday people. You can find more information on the link below

People's homes are crumbling down around them, through no fault of their own. but because they where supplied with mica affected blocks. The suppliers have washed their hands of any responsibility. Many of the homes will have to be completely demolished and rebuilt. The government have set up a 90/10 scheme, but most of the family's cant afford to pay the 10% on top of their mortgages All they want is to be treated equally, as the pyrite scheme was a 100% redress for affected homes.

A Referendum is essential:- 1. To deliver affordable homes for citizens by outlawing the artificial 37% added costs to build homes in Ireland. VAT alone is €23,000 for a 3 bed semi. 2. To stop Rack Rents preventing young people from saving for their own homes and preventing lower income groups from access to 3rd level education due to the exorbitant cost of student accommodation. 3. To prevent Evictions unless decided by the Courts. ... and ... to remove the Central Bank biased and unfair constraints on Irish citizens which are not applicable to foreign vulture funds or local councils competing for homes. - to stop Vulture funds competing with first time buyers. - to stop Local Authorities competing with first time buyers. - to stop recurring Housing crises. "The 2008 CRASH could not have happened if this Referendum had been passed when called for in 1974. It was again recommended in 2014 by the Constitutional Convention." - to reduce the cost of build - artificially inflated by 37%. - to reduce the funding requirements for small and SME builders to build houses - increasing competition. - to increase competition in the housing supply. - to deliver proportionate amount of social homes.

Housing should be seen as a home not an investment asset. If we don't stop this inequality will worsen dramatically – between those on extremely high incomes who can get a deposit off the bank of mum and dad to buy a home, and the majority stuck in the private rental market transferring their income into wealth for investors, or living in overcrowded housing, resulting in delayed adulthood and independence as they’re unable to leave their parents’ home. https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/ireland-investment-housing-5428746-May2021/?utm_source=shortlink

Since moving into this room, we have been harassed, threatened, and have had the neighbouring room broken into. 4 weeks into our tenancy, we received a letter from the rightful owner of the property, informing us that we would need to vacate the premises. We were given a few days notice to quit the premises, leaving us face to face with the threat of homelessness. I am currently 5 months pregnant and it is urgent that I find safe and secure accommodation. The money that we ask is returned will allow us to pay for a deposit. When we first moved in to this room, we requested a tenancy agreement. On the 10th of March, pictures of both our passports were requested and we were told us that a tenancy agreement would be drawn up and sent to us, which we never received. We are now at a serious risk of homelessness, which we were not at risk of in our previous accommodation. The demands listed above are completely reasonable given the stress and hardship our landlord has put on us in recent weeks. We ask you to sign this petition to show your support of our demands and urge our landlord to meet them.

People get robbed by landlords everyday. "We need to clean this, we need to replace that" and they do none of it before the next person moves in and pays another deposit. You are paying for these services so they should have to prove that they actually spent the money doing them things and its not going into their pocket.

Evictions from Rental properties are allowed again as of Friday 23 April. Threshold and opposition parties have warned that this can bring many more families into homelessness, while greedy landlords continue to profit. This while we are still fully in the pandemic with most lockdown measures and mandatory hotel quarantines still in place. In the current conditions, it is absolutely unacceptable that entire families can end up homeless. In fact this is never acceptable, but much less now. Hence urgent action now is required. We want to call the Government to extend the eviction ban in Ireland until all of the covid-19 restrictions are fully lifted. This will allow all residents of Ireland to have a safe place to quarantine and live their life, at least until they are fully empowered to go back to work in an Ireland that has succesfully gone through the Covid-19 Pandemic.